History to Histories

Many people don't realize the importance of historical events and how they have shaped our world as it is today. I'll admit that I have never enjoyed taking a history class, whether it was in grade school, high school, or college. If I would have known and understood what i do now, it would have changed my entire perspective. History is what makes me who I am. Although there are many different kinds of history that influence our understanding of who are as individuals, as family members, as members of cultural groups, and as citizens of a nation ( Martin and Nakayama 2013). Especially living in the United States we are surrounded by so many different intercultural histories, and we should be proud of that. Learning about the different histories and how they formed who I am and where I'm going is important to me. The cultural group that I chose to research are Hispanics. Since they are the largest growing population in the United States I thought it would be beneficial. It is interesting to me as well because Mexico is connected to the United States yet has its own unique historical events that shape the culture of the country. One of the biggest historical events that shaped  the Hispanic heritage was the Mexican Revolution. The Revolution was a conflict that spanned over two decades. After doing some research on the revolution I realized that there were many similarities to that of the conflict in Syria that is going on right now. It all started when the ruler Porfirio Diaz Mori took land away from the rural workers and farmers. Mori wanted to industrialize the country, so he needed the extra land to create roads, dams, and factories. 

  The rural workers, who were considered rebels, caused an up rise. Without their land they really had no way of living. The outcome was over 900,000 casualties and a span of many weak rulers. It wasn't until 1942 that the citizens of Mexico saw a glimpse of hope in establishing peace in the country. I realized that history has a way of repeating itself, but also that the outcomes greatly shape the culture of the nation. The history of the Revolution also explains why Hispanics want to immigrate to United States to find better job opportunities. Their history and our history have combined to create histories between us.

 

References:

Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th Ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill

Mexican Revolution. Oregon Public Broadcasting, n.d. Web.
<http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/mexican-revolution/>.

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